A corner bar in your town U.S.A.
Remember the corner bar? The place that people would hang with friends to watch the big games, meet to catch up after work for a drink, and grab a bite to eat. There was always a happy hour on Friday. Everyone knew everyone else. Sure, it was dark, and maybe not the trendiest place in town, but it was usually inexpensive and you knew the menu inside and out. The server knew your name and they knew what you were drinking without you ordering it.
Wait – was that me, or was it my dad? Did that bar exist for me, or did I see it on television? Was that my father’s corner bar? Did you ever have a corner bar? I’ve been in corner bars, but I wasn’t 30 something then. I may not even be incline to discuss how old I was then, if you catch my not so discreet drift! Yet, there were so many bars in the town I grew up in, at the time.
It was not that long ago that people went out to watch games together in “the corner bars.” What has become of the neighborhood camaraderie? Where did everyone go? They are not in the local spots, that is for sure. In search of some neighborhood “flavor,” some friends and I set out in search of the best hidden treasure in the Philadelphia area over the past few Sundays. The results were not only disappointing, but downright depressing.
Our neighborhood bars are empty.
From Ambler to Bala, from Manayunk to Roxborough, from Fairmount to Fishtown, from Center City to West Philly; our neighborhood bars are empty. Our Eagles are playing and the bars are empty. The first week, the weather was nice, so we thought that people wanted to be outside. The next week, we thought the problem was that the small places, without The NFL Ticket, were empty because they were unappealing to football fans.
Then, we finally found some corner bars that had all of the games and they were still empty, however, they didn’t have any real food to write home about. That scenario did not last very long because eventually a bar came along that had food and they were showing all of the games. So, what conclusion can we draw from this? Have we simply outgrown the old fashioned bar?
Are we really ONLY interested in the newest, hottest, trendiest, biggest, next thing to come down the pike?
They are still packing them in at the largest sports bars in town. The prices there are not less. The food is not better at all of them. Yes, some have good food, but that isn’t the draw for all of them. Our neighborhood bars cannot continue to thrive serving 10-15 patrons on a Sunday afternoon. Does anyone care?
Magic Hat Dinner
Conshohocken Italian Bakery’s “Magic” Tomato Pie